They weren't supposed to be this good this quickly, a team laden with underclassmen. Yet there's Daegu American volleyball at 8-2, second-best start in school history, third place in the Korean-American Interscholastic Activities Conference Division I and with eyes set on top KAIAC honors and maybe even a Far East Class A Tournament title on the Warriors' home court. Read their story here.

Musings, mutterings and the occasional schmahts as we gaze atop the DODEA Japan and Kanto Plain Association of Secondary Schools standings at a new leader:

-- Not for 15 years has Zama American won even a share of the Kanto Plain. Not since 2002 have the Trojans occupied first place in Kanto and DODEA Japan. Now, they have a chance to win both, after Friday's 33-6 victory over 10-time champion Yokota.

-- The teams split the season series 1-1, but the Trojans hold the tiebreaker edge, an 11-point differential edge. Yokota remains a half-game ahead in each league, but Zama has a game in hand and if the two teams finish with one loss each, Zama would win the league.

-- That's not to say Zama has it in the bag.

Factoids that maybe a of little interest to anybody except Ornauer.

Yokota has won the last 10 DODEA Japan and Kanto Plain Association of Secondary Schools titles.

Prior to 1999, DODEA Japan didn't exist. Only the Kanto Plain league existed in Japan.

Nile C. Kinnick won the Kanto title from 1995-98.

Zama American and American School In Japan shared the Kanto title in 1994, splitting their season series. Zama beat ASIJ at home 24-13 and ASIJ returned the favour 21-16. The Kanto Plain league constitution didn't have a tiebreaker provision; thus, Zama and ASIJ shared the title.

Yokota won Kanto from 1991-93.

Nile C. Kinnick halted Yokota's 39-game Kanto league winning streak on Oct. 5, 1990, beating Yokota 47-6.

UPDATED at 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 4.

-- Zama American 33, Yokota 6. No typos, no misprint. Michael Spencer & Co. simply rammed the ball down Yokota's throat. Yokota's 41-game Kanto Plain winning streak over. Zama's 22-game futility streak against Yokota over.

-- Kadena 48, Ryukyu University 3. Old tradition discontinued in 2003 is revived. Sharif Coleman (four touchdowns) has a huge night.

-- Seoul American 14, Osan American 10. Brandon Morton QBs Falcons to win despite flu-like symptoms. Adrian Thomas catches 95-yard TD pass and sets up game-winning score with 62-yard catch.

-- Nile C. Kinnick 19, Kubasaki 16.

A reader commented a few days ago that blogs are communities and forums for open discussion. Unfortunately, too many blogs become forums for keyboard commandos hiding behind fictitious handles to vent and spread messages of hate, which snowballs into more and more of that same type of wrongful discourse.

I hold Pacific SportsBlog to a higher standard than that. I call it the "No-Hate Zone" for a reason. While some topics posted here can be "hot button" in nature, in no way should the discourse here ever be personal. We can all be adults/young adults, stay on topic and leave the personal comments to CBS Sports (dot) com or Fox Sports (dot) com, which breed hate, which encourage it.

So, please ... keep it lively, but keep it real.

Nile C. Kinnick's girls volleyball team continues to blaze trails like no Red Devils team before them. Now 13-0, their best record to this point in school history, Mary Niemeyer & Co. claimed yet another school first on Tuesday in winning at Christian Academy In Japan in five sets -- Kinnick had never before beaten Seisen International, American School In Japan and CAJ all in the same season. ASIJ and CAJ have held a monolith on the Far East Class AA Tournament title the last four years. Who knows if Kinnick may be next. But the Red Devils are making a strong case.

The case for declaring the Sept. 25 Zama @ ASIJ and Oct. 3 ASIJ @ Edgren games merely canceled: More than half the varsity is disabled by the H1N1 flu virus. In fact, more than half the ASIJ student body down with the flu are from the football teams, varsity and JV. It can't be helped. Nothing can be done about it. No way to reschedule the games because ASIJ can't play weekday games and has no more byes the rest of the season. These are special circumstances, the worst flu epidemic to hit a team in recent memory and the worst to plague ASIJ since it had to suspend operations after two games of the 1988 season.

The case for declaring the games forfeits: As coach Chris Waite of Edgren said, "Everybody's affected by the flu.